Any lure made of a soft, rubbery material is classified in the soft plastic lure range these days. The life like action of soft plastics, combined with versatility in rigging and price, makes them extremely popular.
Soft plastic lures are normally rigged using a jig to which the soft plastic lure body and a hook assembly is either connected or is integrally formed.
It is very important to put a soft plastic lure body on the hook properly.
The plastic bait must lay straight and not be bunched up and the hook must be central in the bait or it will interfere with the action and not swim correctly. The soft plastic bait must have action both as it sinks and as it is retrieved to be really successful. Some baits if not correctly rigged will still swim in a fashion on the retrieve but do nothing or just spiral as they sink.
The tail of the soft plastic lure should still work hard as they sink as a lot of bream especially will strike as it is sinking provided it looks lifelike. Start by measuring your soft plastic bait alongside the jig head and take note of where the hook will need to exit the body in order for it to be straight and not bunched or stretched when the front of it is sitting against the head of the jig.
Most plastics have a seam running along the centre in line with the tail so this shows where the hook needs to come through to be central and line up with the tail as well. Start the hook point in the centre of the plastic and thread it round the hook making sure to keep it central and bring the hook point out through the seam.
There are a variety of jigs on the market and examples of the commercially available jigs are illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 4.
It will be clearly understood that, if a prior art publication is referred to herein, this reference does not constitute an admission that the publication forms part of the common general knowledge in the art in Australia or in any other country.